This Week’s Recipe: Ossobuco

Why Ossobuco?

A dish from Milan (Italy) translating to ‘bone with a hole in it’ is all the cold weather comfort food I need. A humble dish of braised veal shanks in wine and aromatics is not only delicious but is also an easy way to feed a large crowd.

While ingredients for this classic dish vary (some with red wine, some without tomato and others with cinnamon and bay leaves), I am happy to say that along with a few vegetables some wine and plenty of cooking this dish is sure to always please.

Shank meat is a cheap cut as it contains a lot of cartilage however; it is also one of the tenderest cuts as long as it is cooked for a few hours.

This recipe is far from traditional but is warm, filling and very tasty - especially because you get to suck out the slow cooked creamy wine marinated marrow at the end!


Ingredients
4 ossobuco (5cm/2inch veal shanks) If you cant get an ossbuco cut of veal ask your butcher to cut veal or lamb shanks into 2 inch slices
80g butter
1 onion, chopped
375ml (1 1/2 cups) red wine
250ml (1 cup) beef stock
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
Plain flour, for dusting
Salt
Pepper

Gremolata
1/2 lemon or orange, grated
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Dust the ossobuco with flour and melt 40g butter in an ovenproof casserole dish. Add the ossobuco and cook over high heat, turning frequently, until browned all over. Remove from pan and turn down to a medium heat. Melt the rest of the butter and add the onion, carrot and celery cooking for 8 minutes or until soft.

Add the ossobuco back to the pan and season with plenty of salt and pepper. Add the bay leaf and tomato paste and continue to cook for a further few minutes. Add the red wine and beef stock.

Bring to the simmer, cover with a lid or foil and cook in the oven to 1 hour. After an hour reduce the heat to 120 and continue to cook uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced slightly.

In the meantime mix the gremolata ingredients together with a fork in a bowl.

To serve, carefully place the meat on a plate, and cover with a generous ladle of sauce. Sprinkle with gremolata and serve with mashed potato and polenta.

Serves 4

Bon Appetite

This Week’s Recipe: Pistachio Lemon Cake

Why Pistachio Lemon Cake?

This cake is simple yet decadent. Jewelled with syrup covered pale yellow green pistachios this cake not only looks beautiful but also tastes even better.

Full of pistachios, almonds and hinted with lemon, this cake reminds me of one of my favourites - baklava. The nuttiness and lemon syrup make this cake sweet and beautifully moist, everything I love about baklava only in cake form.

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 lemon, zested
1 vanilla pod, seeded
120g almond meal
120g green pistachios, shelled
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
20g plain flour

For the topping
Juice of zested lemon
60g green pistachios, shelled
50g caster sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 150° Celsius. Grease and line a 30 x 9 x 8cm deep pan with baking paper.

In a spice grinder or food processor grind the pistachios until they are similar in texture to almond meal. In a bowl mix together the almond meal, ground pistachios and flour.

Beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest and vanilla until fluffy and light in colour. Add the eggs one at a time alternating with a tablespoon of the ground nut mixture. Fold through the rest of the nuts and spoon the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 15 minutes uncovered. After 15 minutes cover the cake with foil and continue to cook for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The foil helps keep the cake moist and prevents the top browning too quickly.

Allow the cake to cook in the tin before turning onto a plate. Once cool make the syrup topping.

For the topping: Roughly chop the pistachios. Mix the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Continue to boil for 2 minutes of until the syrup is thick. Stir in the pistachios and pour evenly over the cake.

Serves 6

Bon Appetite.

Make your own...Salted Almonds

Nothing tastes or smells better than freshly toasted almonds. Their bitter sweetness makes them perfect for savoury and sweet recipes while tasting great on their own.

Serve salted almonds as a perfect snack to go with drinks. Or roughly chop them and add to simple pasta dishes and salads for extra taste and texture or even desserts such as ice creams and parfaits for a salty sweet twist.

Ingredients
About 100g shelled almonds
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
15g unsalted butter
Sea salt

Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Bring a saucepan 3/4 full of water to a boil over high heat. Add the almonds and boil for 30 seconds. Drain and immediately wrap the in a kitchen towel and rub the almonds to loosen and remove the skins.

Place the almonds on a baking sheet and put in a warm oven for 15 minutes to dry.

Remove the almonds from the oven and place in a saucepan. Cover with olive oil and butter. Cook on the stove over a medium heat until they turn a light golden colour.

Strain immediately into a sieve and shake to remove excess butter and oil. Season the hot almonds with plenty of salt and leave to cool.
Serve warm or store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.


Note: Try mixing dried spices into your salt to create flavoured nuts, or try using seasoned salts such as smokes salt, or celery salt.

Bon Appetite

This Week’s Recipe: Kingfish with Olive and Cherry Tomato Salad

Why Kingfish with Olive and Tomato Salad?

When I cook fish I stick to one rule: Keep it simple. Fish are a fantastic ingredient to cook with as they each vary in taste and texture.

Firm white meaty fish are great matched with acidic sauces and pungent flavours. Oily fish are better matched with salty and citric flavours while delicate fleshed fish are best on their own or with light butter sauces.

A piquant salad of cherry tomatoes, black olive tapanade, chilli and parsley is a perfect and simple accompaniment for crisp pan-fried kingfish fillets.

Ingredients
4 150g piece kingfish fillet
40ml extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons black olive tapanade
2 punnets cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pinch dried chilli
4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Method
Heat a frying pan over high heat until hot. Season fish with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the hot pan, followed by the fish skin side down, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, or until the skin is golden.

Turn the fish over and cook for a further 3 minutes or until just cooked.

In a bowl mix together the rest of the olive oil, olive tapanade, parsley, chilli and lemon juice. Season with pepper and serve alongside fish.

Serves 4

Bon Appetite.

This Week’s Recipe: Pasta alla Salsa di Noci

Why Pasta with walnuts?

Like many Italian dishes the ingredients in this recipe are kept few and simple, leaving flavours to speak for themselves.

The natural oils from the walnuts when mixed with the hot starchy pasta create a deliciously nutty rich sauce that showcases the beautiful bittersweet taste of walnuts.

Matched with a little fresh basil, Parmesan and garlic this pasta is an easy yet hearty vegetarian dish.

This is also a dish I cook when converting walnut haters into walnut lovers. Trust me they will love it - just make sure you don’t tell them it contains walnuts until after they ask for seconds and double check a day before that they are not allergic to nuts!

Ingredients
400g dried linguine, spaghetti or other long pasta
100g walnuts
50g pine nuts
80g melted butter (or olive oil)
60g Parmesan, grated
1 tablespoon finely shredded basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Salt
Pepper
Extra Parmesan to garnish

Method
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, using a mortar and pestle (or food processor) reduce the walnuts, pine nuts and garlic to a fine creamy paste.

Add the hot melted butter and mix to combine. Add the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta until it is al dente and drain, making sure to reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.

Toss the pasta in the walnut pesto and add a tablespoon or two of cooking liquid. The pasta should be coated evenly with a creamy walnut sauce. If it appears too thick, thin it out with a little more liquid or olive oil.

Serve sprinkled with basil and Parmesan.

Serves 6 as entrée or 4 as a main.

Bon Appetite